My 10 Favorite Apps: Week 2 – QBO Online Bill Payments

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While I typically write about what's new or tips when it comes to QBO, I started this new miniseries to give you my own Top 10 when it comes to apps that connect with QuickBooks Online. I'm not listing my 10 apps in any particular order, I'm just trying to give you the apps I have found that create synergy and save time.

This week, I'm focusing on the new integrated QBO Online Bill Pay powered by Bill.com, which is an app actually inside of QuickBooks Online. 

This isn't your grandma's Bill.com app. This new integration is happening inside of QBO, or at least it seems. Just take a look at the all new QBO Bill payment screen with ACH payment functionality.

What is QuickBooks Online Bill Pay powered by Bill.com?

Bill.com and QuickBooks Online have teamed up to provide an in-product integration that will give users the ability to pay their bills online within QBO. This makes it easy to manage the cash flow, because the incoming and outgoing money is all tracked in one place.

Every action happens inside of QBO. This means a user never needs to log into another system. Now you can create the Bill in QBO and pay the Bill in QBO, even though the behind-the-scenes magic occurs via Bill.com.

How does Bill Pay powered by Bill.com work?

Once a bill is created in QBO the Master & Company Administrator, users can pay bills directly inside QBO. As part of the new integration there are several ways to pay bills using Online Bill Pay. After choosing to pay the bill online, you'll be taken to the review and send screen where you can select how you wish to send payment; ACH or Paper check sent via Bill.com.  

1. Open the Quick Create menu and choose Pay Bills Online

2. From the QBO Navigation Bar, select Expenses and choose Pay bills online or simply select Pay bills online from the drop-down Action column options for the item you want to pay.

What’s the NEW Integrated Bill.com inside QBO cost?

The All New integrated Bill Pay inside of QBO is $9.99 a month and $0.49 per ACH transaction or $1.49 per check payment.

Are you ready to sign up ?

There are several ways to Get Started with Online Bill Pay powered by Bill.com:

  • From the QBO Quick Create, under Vendors select Pay bills online, or
  • From the Gear icon, select Accountant Settings and choose the new Bill pay option, or
  • From the Navigation Bar, select Expenses; following the link in the message alert introducing Online Bill pay will open to Get Started, lastly,
  • If these options are not currently available to you, due to the newness of this feature, you can use this direct link to access Online Bill Pay. (We need to thank Woody Adams for this option.)

Setting-up Online Bill Pay powered by Bill.com

By selecting the green Get Started button to Setup Online, Bill Pay powered by Bill.com you will be walked through the steps to create your payment account, which includes verifying user and adding bank accounts.

Compare Online Bill Pay and Bill.com Versions Side by side

The two programs are similar, but the Online Bill Pay is a modified version of Bill.com. There are some difference, which means you cannot use an existing Bill.com account for the Online Bill Pay. Instead, you'll need to cancel and disconnect your existing Bill.com account and then create a new Online Bill Pay account.

  1. There are no Approvers or approval policies, but in most cases Approvers are not necessary.
  2. All QBO Master & Company Administrators users (only) can make payments. Currently, accountant users are not able to be a Bill Pay user, so an additional user seat will need to be added if you are going to make payments on behalf of the company.
  3. One huge advantage of Online Bill Pay is the fact that Payment status and related-images (like cleared checks) are visible inside of QBO.
  4. There is a Price difference because this Online Bill Pay is a simplified version (rather than full Bill.com version) the cost is only $9.99 a month plus $0.49 per ACH transactions or $1.49 per check payment. The Bill.com full version is considerably higher at $29.99 Per User, plus transaction fees. Additionally, with Online Bill Pay, there is no accountant portal costing $49.00 a month.

If you want a more detailed contrast of Bill.com and Online Bill Pay, Intuit has created a Comparison chart (shown below).

With this new App we can create Online Bill Payments from within QBO making bookkeeping processes tidier and cash flow management easier.

Using the QBO platform coupled with apps makes sense, and saves cents by making time consuming tasks a thing of the past.

For more information and wonderful how-to guides check out this Intuit Community Article.